The Visitor
by killerwhaletank
Summary: One night, while fretting over his relationship (or lack thereof) with Felicity King, Stuart McRae receives an unexpected visitor.


**Title:** The Visitor  
**Genre:** Road to Avonlea -- Alternate Reality  
**Disclaimer:** _Road to Avonlea_ and all of its characters are the property of Sullivan Entertainment. This story is non-profit, and was created solely for the enjoyment of the fans and the author.  
**Summary:** Stuart McRae is discouraged one night over the lack of progress in his relationship with Felicity King, and a mysterious visitor shows up to encourage him. 

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Please do not post, publish, or distribute this without the permission of the author. Thanks.

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**THE VISITOR**  
  
**Written by:** Tara  
**Date Written:** Sometime during the final season of Road to Avonlea

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The clock in the hall ticked relentlessly on, echoing throughout the silent house. Stuart McRae, the lone occupant of the house, sighed and rolled over in his bed. It seemed as though he would never get to sleep. Soft chimes sounded outside of his room, causing Stuart to groan inwardly. It was two o'clock in the morning, and still, sleep eluded him. He was going to be dead tired tomorrow, which was too bad since he was taking the Dean children to the shore in the afternoon, and one had to be in top form to keep up with the rambunctious Deans.

Stuart rolled over again and sighed. The main reason that he had offered to take the Deans to the shore was so that he would be able to spend some time with their guardian, Felicity King. However, Felicity had informed him at the last moment that she wouldn't be able to go with them, claiming that she had a meeting to go to on behalf of the Foundling Home. Stuart suspected that the meeting was just a good excuse for her to avoid spending too much time with him. It seemed as though she was coming up with more and more excuses lately to avoid that particular fate. 

Stuart knew Felicity's avoidance of him had to do with the fact that he wanted their relationship to change, and was trying to push it beyond that of the comfortable friendship that it had been thus far. He couldn't help it. He was crazy about her. He also couldn't help that she wasn't quite so crazy over him. Another man owned her heart, and his name was Gus Pike. Of course, Gus Pike hadn't set foot in Avonlea in over a year, and Stuart knew that this wouldn't change any time soon. After all, Gus Pike was dead -- lost at sea when his ship had been destroyed in a storm. Yet, Felicity still clung to the desperate hope that he might still be coming home to her. For the hundredth time, Stuart told himself that he just had to give Felicity some more time, but it was hard to have patience when the girl he loved spent all of her days pining over another man. 

The clock continued ticking steadily in the hall, and Stuart gave up trying to sleep. He climbed out of his bed and pulled on his robe, padding downstairs to make himself some tea. Outside, he could hear the low roll of the thunder, and the steady pattering of raindrops hitting the ground. Suddenly, he had a very eerie feeling. He shuddered and pulled his robe tighter around him, putting the kettle on to boil and feeling oddly unsettled all the while. 

The kitchen was deathly quiet while Stuart waited for his water to boil. He shivered every time a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, followed quickly by the angry rumble of the thunder. Feeling the need to dispel the unnatural atmosphere, Stuart lit a fire in the living room. Several minutes later, when the fire was crackling steadily, the whistle of the kettle made Stuart jump. Laughing in relief, he scolded himself for being so jumpy. He was acting like an overgrown child. He shook his head and poured himself some tea, chuckling all the while.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud at the door, and Stuart jumped again, nearly spilling hot tea all over himself. He froze and looked towards the front door, feeling his heart leap into his throat. For a few endless moments, there was nothing but silence, and then again, the same thudding that he had heard before. He let out his breath, not realizing that he had been holding it. It was only somebody knocking at the door. But who would be calling on him at two o'clock in the morning?

Stuart opened the door and looked out to see a young man standing on his porch, dripping from head to toe. It was too dark to make out his visitor's features, but Stuart could tell that he had dark hair and was in his early twenties.

"I'm real sorry to come bargin' in on ya like this in the middle of the night, sir," the stranger said. "It's just that I lost my way, and then the storm came up and took me by surprise. I was wondering if you might know a place for me to wait out the storm?"

Stuart blinked in surprise. "Come inside," he offered, letting his caller in.

"I'm awful sorry for wakin' you up so late," the stranger said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. Stuart shivered a little. It seemed as though the temperature in the room had dropped by a few degrees. Stuart brushed it off, thinking that it was probably from opening the door and letting the storm in. 

"I was already awake," Stuart assured his visitor. "It's quite a storm out there, isn't it?"

The stranger nodded. "Bad enough to make me run for the nearest house I could see, which so happened to be your place." He stepped into the light, and Stuart took the opportunity to examine his guest. The younger man's face was quite pale, and his dark eyes glistened in the candlelight.

"Well, I couldn't live with myself if I turned someone out into this miserable storm. I can offer you that shelter you were looking for, until the storm passes, of course," Stuart said, barely able to believe he was saying the words that were coming out of his mouth. What had gotten into him that he was letting a perfect stranger stay in his house?

The stranger grinned with gratitude, and Stuart saw him relax. "I'd be much obliged to ya, sir," he said, reaching out to shake Stuart's hand.

"I'm Stuart McRae," Stuart said, taking the stranger's offered hand. He noticed that the man's hands were as cold as ice, and he suddenly realized that the poor man must be freezing in his wet clothes. "Sit down by the fire and warm yourself. I'll find something for you to wear while your clothes dry out. You'll catch your death from the cold."

The stranger looked at him a little oddly. "I doubt that," he replied. "But I guess I am quite wet."

Stuart went to his room and pulled out an old sweater and pair of pants, both of which he gave to his mysterious guest. "While you change, I'll make you some hot tea," Stuart said. "I was just making some for myself when you showed up."

"Thank you, again," the stranger said. 

A few minutes later, Stuart returned to the living room with two cups of tea. His guest was standing by the fire, spreading out his jacket. Stuart picked up the stranger's shirt from a pile on the floor and began to help spread it out. There was something a little odd about the smell of the clothing, as if was more than just wet from the rain. There was some other element that Stuart wasn't too sure of. Suddenly, it hit him. "This smells like saltwater," he said in surprise, looking at his guest.

The stranger looked up at him and shrugged. "Well, I didn't go jump into the sea, if that's what you're suggesting," he said with a wry grin.

Stuart smiled back. "No, I suppose not. So, what brings you to Avonlea? I don't believe I've ever seen you around here before."

"Oh, I'm just passing through, Mr. McRae," the stranger said. "I go wherever the sea takes me."

"You're a sailor?"

"Yes. I've been working for Jamison Shipping Lines for the past year. My ship docked in Charlottetown this morning, and I was heading on to Rustico when I got side-tracked by the storm," he added. 

"It must be an exciting life," Stuart said softly, trying to picture himself standing at the helm of a huge ship. Somehow, the picture didn't suit him.

The stranger just shrugged again. "I suppose. Exciting... but sad. And lonely."

"Sad?" Stuart asked in surprise.

"You're always sayin' goodbye to the folks that you love, and you know that there's the chance that you may never be sayin' hello again," the stranger explained.

Stuart was silent for a moment, not quite sure how to respond to that.

"What about you?" The stranger asked, breaking the silence. "What do you do for a livin'?"

"I'm a banker," Stuart replied. "I suppose it's not nearly as exciting as the life of a sailor."

The stranger just smiled in return, neither agreeing with nor denying Stuart's comment. "You all alone here? Or do ya got a wife and kids?"

"Oh, I'm just an old bachelor," Stuart said sheepishly, suddenly thinking about Felicity and wondering if he'd always be an old bachelor.

"But not for long, eh?" the stranger said softly, seeing the look in Stuart's eyes.

Stuart flushed. "Well... there is a young woman... but she's not quite ready for anything like that just yet," he sighed.

"Why not?"

"She's in love with somebody else. She's been in love with him for years, and she's not too keen about the idea of letting him go," Stuart replied, unsure as to why he was baring his soul to a perfect stranger, especially when he hadn't talked to anybody else about this.

"So why doesn't she marry the other fella, if she loves him so much?" the stranger asked, sounding bewildered by the whole situation.

"She can't. He was drowned in a shipwreck a year ago," Stuart explained, trying not to sound too frustrated. "She still refuses to give up on him, though."

"But if he's dead, she should get on with her life," the stranger replied with a shake of his head.

Stuart grimaced. "That's what everybody is trying to tell her. Unfortunately, she isn't so eager to listen. I don't know. Maybe she's right and we're all wrong."

The stranger gave him a piercing look, making Stuart feel as though the man was looking directly into his soul. Gazing seriously at Stuart, the stranger finally said, "You're a good man, Stuart McRae. I'll bet that if you just stick with your lady-friend, and let her know that you're there for her, she'll come around eventually. Sooner or later, she's gonna have to come to terms with her loss. That's when she's gonna need you the most."

Stuart shook his head in wonder over his guest's conviction. "I wish you could tell Felicity what you just told me. I think somehow she'd listen to you."

The stranger just smiled oddly. "Maybe she would. But the simple fact of the matter is that she can't live her life waiting for someone who's never comin' back, Mr. McRae. She'll admit that to herself. You just have to stick with her."

Stuart smiled. "I will. She's definitely worth it. I just get a little discouraged sometimes."

The stranger grinned. "That's the whole purpose of women, Mr. McRae. They were put on God's green Earth just to give us grief."

Stuart laughed. "I suppose, with wisdom like that, you probably have a girl waiting for you somewhere."

A sadness appeared in the stranger's eyes, and his face twisted with what Stuart guessed was pain. "My girl should have stopped waiting for me by now," he said softly, and Stuart could hear the longing in the man's voice.

"I don't understand," Stuart said, frowning slightly.

"We promised each other a long time ago that we would marry. But circumstances have changed, and we won't be getting married after all," the stranger said, sounding desolate.

"Why not?" Stuart asked, genuinely sorry for his odd companion.

The stranger sighed. "It's a long story. But the end of it is, that I can't go back, and she has to stop waiting for me."

"Just like Felicity and Gus," Stuart said. The stranger gave Stuart a long look and then sighed again.

"She'll move on soon... and so will this Felicity of yours," the stranger said with certainty.

"I think she feels like she would be betraying Gus if she ever put his memory to rest," Stuart said thoughtfully. "She loves him very much."

"That's nonsense," the stranger scoffed. "If he... Gus... loved her, he would want her to be happy. He would want her to go on and get everything out of life that she could. Do you think that he could rest in peace, knowing that she was throwing away a second chance while waiting for him?"

"I never thought of it that way before," Stuart said. "I guess I never really thought of it from his point of view."

"Well, being in a similar situation myself," the stranger said, "I can tell you he'd probably be miserable if he knew that she was so sad and alone. I think that he would be grateful that somebody was there for her," he added vehemently.

Stuart's breath caught in his throat. The conviction in the stranger's eyes and voice made Stuart feel sure that he was right. He was sure that not only would Felicity eventually come around, but that Gus Pike would be glad that she was able to put him to rest and move on. He felt suddenly cheered.

The stranger sat silently watching Stuart's emotions flicker across his face. When Stuart smiled a little, the stranger grinned a bittersweet smile. He knew that Stuart was not going to give up on Felicity any time in the near future.

"Thank you," Stuart said, looking over at his new friend. "You've made me feel much better. If I didn't know better, I'd say Providence sent you here to give me a pep-talk," he laughed.

The stranger grinned again, but there was a profound sadness in it. "Maybe I just used the storm as an excuse to come here," he bantered. "Maybe I picked this particular house to stop at, just so I could encourage you."

Something in his voice made Stuart wonder uneasily if the stranger was really joking or not. Stuart felt a slight shiver, and then quickly shrugged it off. It was such an absurd idea to think that fate had brought this young man to his doorstep, just because he'd been fretting over Felicity. "You know, I think maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight after all," Stuart commented. As if to prove his point, he yawned, feeling suddenly drowsy.

"Looks like you're ready to try to go back to sleep, too," the stranger said as Stuart's eyes got heavier.

Stuart nodded. "I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I guess I'll just wish you goodnight, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep well, Mr. McRae, and thank you again for your kindness," the stranger replied.

Stuart just nodded again and went upstairs. He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

*****

The next morning, Stuart dressed and made his way downstairs to greet his visitor. He had enjoyed their conversation the night before, and was looking forward to talking to his new friend again. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he realized that everything was strangely quiet. Stuart wondered if his guest was still sleeping. 

Stuart entered the kitchen. It was just as he had left it the night before, except that the teacups were washed and put away. Stuart knew that he hadn't done it, so he assumed that the stranger must have. Stuart peeked into the living room, expecting to see his guest sleeping on the sofa, and was instead surprised to see that the living room was empty as well. There was no one on the couch. In fact, it looked as if there had never been anybody there in the first place. The blankets that Stuart had pulled out the night before were nowhere to be seen, and neither were the clothes he had lent to his guest. Stuart ran to the closet, and was surprised to find the blankets exactly where they should be, folded and stacked neatly on the shelf. Puzzled, he went upstairs and looked in his drawer. The clothes that he had lent the stranger the night before were folded and placed in the exact places that Stuart had taken them from. A chill travelled down his spine. They hadn't been worn at all. Except, he had seen the stranger wearing them, and he knew that they *had* been worn.

Stuart looked all over the house, and except for the fact that the teacups were put away, there was nothing to show that anyone but Stuart had ever been there. Stuart shook his head in puzzlement. Then, he noticed a puddle of water near the door. Stuart went over to examine it. It wasn't rainwater, he was certain of that. Stuart's confusion began to mount. It was seawater. There was even a small piece of seaweed in it. Stuart remembered how the stranger's clothes had smelled of saltwater and he shook his head in bewilderment. 

With a shock, Stuart suddenly realized that he didn't even know the name of his visitor. He thought back to their introduction and subsequent conversation, and observed that he had never used the man's name. The stranger hadn't even told it to him. Why hadn't he noticed it at the time?

On his way to work that morning, Stuart wondered over the previous night's events. At the bank, he decided to telephone the Charlottetown office of Jamison Shipping Lines and find out how much time there was until his visitor's ship left harbour. He wasn't quite sure why he did it, but he soon found himself on the phone with the company's secretary. What she told him certainly did not ease Stuart's worries. She told him that none of their ships had docked in Charlottetown the previous morning. The only explanation for this, Stuart realized, was that his visitor had lied to him.

At the end of the day, Stuart headed over to the King farm, where he was supposed to pick up the Dean children. Felicity had left them there while she was away at her meeting. When he arrived, he found Janet and the Dean children in the kitchen, looking at an old photograph album.

"Mr. McRae," Duffy Dean called, "You should come and look at these. Some of them are really funny!" the boy laughed.

Stuart smiled and sat down next to Duffy, hoping that laughing over some old pictures might help him forget about his strange encounter the night before. It worked, at first. There were old photos of Felix, Felicity, Cecily, and their cousin Sara (whom he'd never met) as children. There were photos of them as young adults as well. Jasper Dale had taken all of the pictures with his camera. Stuart thought it amazing that Jasper could manage to lug that clunky contraption of his around with him, searching for those endless photo opportunities.

Duffy turned the page of the album, and Stuart froze. On one side, there was a picture of Felix, Daniel, and Alec. The second picture was of Janet, Cecily, and Felicity. The third picture, however, was the one that made Stuart's blood run cold. It was taken on the steps of the lighthouse, and had an unsettlingly familiar young man in it. The man was sitting on the bottom step of the lighthouse with one hand resting on his knee, and the other lightly holding onto a fiddle. It was the stranger who had come to visit him last night. He was sure of it! Stuart felt his heart slam into his chest.

"Who's this, Mrs. King?" Belle-Marie Dean asked in surprise. "I've never seen him before."

"No, I don't suppose you have," Janet responded sadly, and Stuart looked up at her. "He died some time ago. Before any of you came to Avonlea."

"Died?" Stuart squawked, feeling all of the blood drain from his face.

"Yes," Janet said, frowning at him slightly, and wondering why he suddenly looked so pale. "That's Gus Pike."

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[The End]

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I had to add this little note at the end. I just wanted to say that I'm glad that in the real series, Gus lived and he and Felicity did get married, but sometimes it's just fun to play with the "what-if's". Hope you enjoyed it. Please send me a note if you did, or even if you didn't. Tara. 

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